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Strider (PC Engine)
|image= Turbo_Duo.jpg |caption= Cover Art |Developer= Dice Creative, Ltd."Company History 会社沿革" (in Japanese). Dice Creative Inc. Retrieved 21 Dec 2010. |Publisher= NEC Avenue |Release Dates= September 22, 1994 |Designer= Satoshi OhnoDice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PC Engine CD-ROM². Level/area: End credits. (September 22, 1994). |Producer= Toshio Tabeta |Composer= |Programmer= Toyohiro Imagawa Goro Takahashi |Artist= Yoshinobu Inano (Cutscenes) |Ports= |Compilations= }} NEC Avenue's Strider Hiryû ( ) is a port of the coin-op for the PC Engine. This port is infamous for its protracted development, as it was originally announced as a HuCard for the PC Engine SuperGrafx in 1990 before undergoing various format changes, ultimately being released as a CD-ROM game for the Arcade Card add-on in late 1994.(September 1990). "Strider Hiryu" (in Japanese). PC Engine Fan (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten). Retrieved 13 Dec 2010.(January 1991). "Are SG Games Being Withdrawn?" (in Japanese). PC Engine Fan (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten). Retrieved 13 Dec 2010.(September 1991). "Strider Hiryu" (in Japanese). PC Engine Fan (Tokyo: Tokuma Shoten). Retrieved 13 Dec 2010. Its most noticeable changes are new animated cutscenes, arranged Red Book-quality soundtrack, and an optional bonus mission between the first and second stages, set in a desert. Otherwise, the game plays similar to the coin-op. The new cutscenes appear to have inspired the later Strider 2, as both games use similar wireframed maps for their stage introductions. Story The new cutscenes flesh out more of the story. Most cutscenes are still shots of the characters, but a few are animated. Some shots are animated through layering and scalingDice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PCEngine CD-ROM². Level/area: Kazakh Federation. (September 22, 1994)., while others are animated traditionally.Dice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PC Engine CD-ROM². Level/area: The Flying Battleship Balrog. (September 22, 1994). The cutscenes strengthen plot continuity between stages. Hiryu communicates with the Striders through a satellite link which provides mission objectives, used mostly as a way to tie stages together. The Amazon stage introduction, for example, reveals that Meio's threat is actually a hologram projected from the Amazonian jungle; and the stage completion cutscene shows a shuttle being launched from the South American base to the Third Moon, which explains Hiryu's arrival on the orbital station. The only other major changes to the story are the origin of the Striders, here said to be a secret organization created by the United Nations to deal specifically with the Grandmaster's attack, and the inclusion of a female Navigator who provides Hiryu with intel and mission objectives during cutscenes. Differences with the Arcade This port is a mostly faithful, expanded version of the arcade game. It contains a new stage, animated cutscenes and Redbook Audio tracks for stage music and cutscenes. CPS-1 native resolution: 384 by 224. Viewable gameplay area: 384 by 224. PC Engine native resolution: 256 by 224. Viewable gameplay area: 256 by 208. (Vertical viewable gameplay area is limited by the opaque HUD.) As displayed on an arcade monitor or home television using a 4:3 aspect ratio resolution. List of Changes Gameplay= * The new stage, "Oil Fields", an oil refinery and military desert camp used by the Kazakh Federation. The stage includes a few new enemies and two original bosses: a commander who summons a giant monster resembling an ant lion larva, and a soldier who drives the Sovkhoz Я tank, reminiscent of the T-48 from the manga.Dice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PC Engine CD-ROM². Level/area: Extra Stage. (September 22, 1994). * A life unit associated with one of the Options will now move along if the player restores lost life, moving it always at the front of the lifebar instead of staying in its original place. This removed a strategy in which one could get hit on purpose and then refill the lifebar after obtaining an Option, protecting it until Hiryu dies. * Slower gameplay and progression, including noticeable slowdown, pauses and invisible barriers. * As with the Genesis port, both Strobaya and Solo must be defeated before you are allowed to continue. * Fewer on-screen enemies. * Alternate dynamic difficulty behavior. * Fewer difficulty levels. * Lower game difficulty. * Some objects and enemies have different score and HP allocations. * Double the amount of time allocated between each checkpoint. * Altered checkpoint locations. * More checkpoints. * You have to restart the stage you died on from the beginning if you continue. * Modified enemy and object placement in many places. * Removal of the Tyrannosaurus enemy from the Amazon stage. |-| Performance= * Altered collision detection has been implemented for the foreground tiles and sprites, affecting gameplay. * Lower native display resolution. * Contains exactly one quarter of the tile graphics resolution of the arcade version in the foreground layer. * Increased sprite pop-up and flicker. * Altered game boundary scrolling limits and general scrolling behavior. * Only one background scrolling layer is used in the entire game (Flying Battleship Balrog). |-| Aesthetic= * A redesigned opaque HUD has been added. * All of the graphics have been redrawn or edited to accommodate the game's lower resolution and color palette, subtlety changing their appearance. * A few characters were redesigned. While some characters received just minor updates, others went through a considerable redesign. These redesigns are exclusively seen in the cutscenes and with the exception of Captain Beard Jr., aren't reflected in the in-game sprites. * Lago's sprite has a slightly different palette when summoned during the final stage. * Heavily modified (redesigned) sprite movement and behavior for all sprites. * Far fewer frames of animation for sprites. * No animating tiles used in graphics layers. * Missing foreground and background tiles and objects. * Altered color palette. * The stage layout, design and appearance has been modified in many areas. * The invincibility powerup's glowing and shadow effect is removed. |-| Sound= * The Red Book audio tracks reinterpret most of the themes from the arcade and add three original themes: two for the new stage and a third replacing "Hiryu" from Stage 05.Dice Creative, Ltd. Strider Hiryu (in Japanese). (NEC Avenue). PC Engine CD-ROM². Level/area: The Third Moon. (September 22, 1994). * Ouroboros' boss theme ("Uroboros - The Iron Ruler") is reused in the boss battles against the Kuniang trio, Captain Beard Jr. and Lago. As a result of this, the original boss themes ("Fu-jin", "Capture!" and "African Formidable") are not part of the soundtrack. Similarly Strobaya's boss theme ("Coup") is reused for the Mecha Pon mid-boss fight. * Three other themes are not found in the game: "Mosque the Cold-Hearted" ("Coup" takes over it), "Siberian Tunnel" and "Driving Wheel" (both replaced by "Mass of Clouds"). The three short intro fanfares from St. Petersburg ("Defense Line") and the Amazon ("War Drum" and "Encirclement") are also not included. * A vocal introduction precedes all boss fights, accompanied by an animated mugshot of the enemy. * Fewer in-game sound effects. * Sound effects have been redesigned. * Lower sound quality used for sound effects. * The Japanese language is used throughout the game, completely dropping the original's multilingual aspect. The game's interface however remains in English. |-| Other= * Reprogrammed game by Dice Creative, Ltd. * An Options menu allowing the player to determine Level Select (Normal, ???), number of lives and the option to switch off the Extra Stage from play. * Removal of the highscore initial-input and highscore screens. * Gameplay attract sequences have been replaced with an animated introduction. * All stages are preceded with an animated cutscene and followed by an animated outro screen. * Removal of the hidden panda. * Single player only. * The port's staff credit roll features all the names of the staff members written in kanji. * Unregistered trademark symbol on game title. |-| Credits }) |- | (Shiozawa Kaneto) || Kaneto Shiozawa |- | rowspan="6" align="center" | Uncredited |- | (Tōma Yumi) || Yumi Tōma |- | (Hori Yukitoshi) || Yukitoshi Hori |- | (Ikeda Shūichi) || Shūichi Ikeda |- | (Yada Kōji) || Kōji Yada |- | (Matsui Mami) || Mami Matsui |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Grandmaster ( ) |- | (Totani Kōji) || Kōji Totani |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Narration ( ) |- | (Kayumi Iemasa) || Iemasa Kayumi |- | colspan="3" align="center" | STAFF - GAME PART |- | rowspan="3" align="center" | Program |- | (Imagawa Toyohiro) || Toyohiro Imagawa |- | (Takahashi Gorou) || Gorou Takahashi |- | rowspan="6" align="center" | Map Graphic |- | (Ishii Norio) || Norio Ishii |- | (Akihiro Saito) || Akihiro Saito |- | (Sugino Gen) || Gen Sugino |- | (Nakamura Nobumasa) || Nobumasa Nakamura |- | (Horiguchi Masao) || Masao Horiguchi |- | colspan="3" align="center" | VISUAL DEMO PART |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Program |- | (Watanabe Mamoru) || Mamoru Watanabe |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Character Design & Animate |- | (Inano Yoshinobu) || Yoshinobu Inano |- | rowspan="7" align="center" | Graphics |- | (Aoki Yūko) || Yūko Aoki |- | (Ishii Norio) || Norio Ishii |- | (Ootsu Chiaki) || Chiaki Ootsu |- | (Saito Akihiro) || Akihiro Saito |- | (Sugino Gen) || Gen Sugino |- | (Maruyama Seiji) || Seiji Maruyama |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Music |- | K.M. Brothers || |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Original Game Made by |- | colspan="2" | Capcom |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Produce |- | (Saito Akihiro) || Akihiro Saito |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Direction |- | (Ohno Satoshi) || Satoshi Ohno |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Executive Producer |- | (Tabeta Toshio) || Toshio Tabeta |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Manufactured |- | colspan="2" | Dice Co.Ltd |- | rowspan="2" align="center" | Copyright |- | colspan="2" | Capcom, NEC Avenue.Ltd |} * Uncredited voice roles: ** Yumi Toma: Tong Pooh ** Yukitoshi Hori: Strobaya, Tank Driver ** Shuichi Ikeda: Solo ** Koji Yada: General Mikiel, Desert Commander ** Mami Matsui: Amazoness, Balrog VO, Navigator ** Iemasa Kayumi: Captain Beard Jr. References Category:Games Category:Ports Category:SuperGrafx